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Verisign to increase .net fees Two ICANN directors update their conflicts profile after .africa complaint Amazon, Uniregistry, Verisign… here’s who won the new gTLDs lottery Santa Claus shows up to ICANN new gTLD raffle Another deadline missed in registrar contract talks ICANN drops .jobs shut-down threat Chehade kicks off massive Whois review ICM seizes on Google’s porn algorithm change Seven new gTLD applications withdrawn, two after GAC Early Warnings Deloitte confirmed as first Trademark Clearinghouse provider Ombudsman probing secretive Trademark Clearinghouse meetings New gTLD lottery tickets now on sale Van Gelder leaves NBT, goes solo with consulting biz List your job openings for free on DI Jobs Go Daddy gets its fourth CEO in a year YouPorn owner arrested in tax evasion probe Ombudsman asks DCA to simmer down after .africa conflict of interest complaint Russian iTunes Store infiltrated by .xxx banners after snafu [NSFW] .africa gTLD applicant caught using fake identity TLDH hires ICANN’s former new gTLDs head Two ICANN directors update their conflicts profile after .africa complaint Kevin Murphy, December 19, 2012, 01:40:48 (UTC), Domain Registries ICANN directors Mike Silber and Chris Disspain have updated their official statements of interest — used to identify potential conflicts on the board — after a complaint from a .africa applicant. The new SOI statement more clearly specifies the relationship between South African ccTLD policymaker ZADNA — for which Silber acts as treasurer — and Uniforum, which has applied for the .africa gTLD. It also gives a bit more information about Disspain’s employer, .au policymaker AuDA, and ARI Registry Services, which is providing the back-end registry services for dozens of new gTLD applicants. Here’s Silber’s new SOI summary, with the relevant new text highlighted: Member of the Management Committee and Treasurer of the Internet Service Providers’ Association (ISPA) South Africa. He is also, a Director and Treasurer of the .za Domain Name Authority, the ccTLD administrator for .za. The .za Domain Name Authority has concluded an arms-length operating agreement with Uniforum t/a the .za Central Registry for Uniforum to operate the .za registry. Under the agreement, Uniforum will collect and pay transaction fees to .za Domain Name Authority. Uniforum is acting as the registry service provider for various new gTLD applicants. Here’s Disspain’s, again with my emphasis: Director and CEO of .au Domain Administration Limited, the .au ccTLD manager; .au has sponsorship agreement with ICANN under which .au pays ICANN a yearly amount based on the amount of names under management. Former Officer of ICANN, Paul Levins, is a Director of .au Domain Administration Limited. .au Domain Administration Limited licenses AusRegistry Pty Ltd to run the registry for the second level names in .au. Under the Registry License agreement, AusRegistry pays fees to auDA; companies affiliated with AusRegistry are affiliated with new gTLD applications. AusRegistry is technically ARI’s parent, but they share many of the same senior executives. The updated statement comes shortly after a complaint filed with ICANN’s Ombudsman by .africa applicant DotConnectAfrica about Silber and Disspain’s alleged conflicts of interest over the gTLD. While the indirect connection between Silber and DCA’s rival .africa applicant Uniforum is clear, it was not obvious to Ombudsman Chris LaHatte what Disspain’s conflict was supposed to be. LaHatte found no actions that constituted conflicts of interest from either director, but he appeared to nudge the board to providing fuller disclosure, which is what seems to have happened here. Related posts (automatically generated): Ombudsman asks DCA to simmer down after .africa conflict of interest complaint Unbelievably, .africa will be contested Sedari working on .africa gTLD bid Tagged: .au, .za, auda, conflicts of interest, ICANN, new gTLDs, zadna ADD YOUR COMMENT Name (required) Mail (will not be published) (required) Web site (optional) Submit Comment Notify me of followup comments via e-mail. You can also subscribe without commenting. RECENT COMMENTS mrwin: To entrust a profit seeking entity to run such an important system is not good.... read more Acro: Since the world ends in 2 days, that's pointless. :D... read more Project dotVinum: Yep, so we can see .Vin listed :-)... read more fred krueger: i would like to see the reverse analysis -- of those uncontested non-IDN apps, which ones ended up, for example, with pr... read more Jean Guillon: .RESTAURANT ? Hey Dan: Restaurant = Food = Culture = France I've had phone calls about it already.... read more Go Figure: Of the 66 geos, 30 are over 1000. In other words, about half the geos won't see the light of day until the latter half ... read more Go Figure: Overall, looks like the geos drew the longer straws. Not unexpected.... read more Domain Dan: What's all the fighting about? It's like rearranging chair on the desk of the Titanic if you ask me. Clearly, all of t... read more Tom G: killer analysis though, I can see why the DI PRO subscription could pay off.... read more Tom G: Donuts scored well with uncontested TLDs in the first couple hundred, including some IDNS.... read more © 2010-2012 TLD Research Ltd